Friday, August 18, 2006

Our new cash desks arrived on Wednesday. We were thrilled, the truck driver far less so! A huge truck pulled up to our loading dock, the driver very, very upset. In between the cursing, he mentioned something about a lack of a loading dock. I don't think our comment of "well, this is what loading docks looked like 60 years ago" went over so well ;-)3 huge 7 foot skids were plopped into the communal hallway of our building. Fortunately, Dan and his good friend Paul were able to help out.

Here they are putting it all together.

The coffee break!

Finished! - We still need lights though. They were supposed to come with lights, but somehow the order was a little mixed up. Now, in order to use the lights that were supposed to come with it, we would have to take it apart. After the look of absolute horror on my husbands face when he overheard THAT conversation.....we'll get other lights :-)

I think the class was a huge success! The students were busy creating their own end caps, toggle clasps, twisted earwires, and more. We'll have to ask Marg, Erin, and Janice to take pics of some of their creations to post.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

We like to do all sorts of things around here. We like beads, fibres, clay, fire and metal.I'd like to present our new metalsmithing area. This is a temporary setup that we're doing for a class today. Once our renovations are complete though, we'll have our new fabulous studio setup for both lampwork and silversmithing! Wahooo! ...can ya tell i'm a little excited ;-)

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Dwyn took a panoramic shot of the store a while back, but I hadn't had a chance to put it up online. Here it is!

We've got a lot happening this weekend. Our slotwall is going back up tomorrow (friday), and our new cash desk....(Yup...2 cash registers folks!) will be delivered within the next week or two.Our new fixtures for the front of the store (tables etc.) will also be coming within the next 2 weeks.

But the really fun project will be setting up our new metalsmithing studio this weekend. That really crowded back room where we had the lampworking studio, the kitchen, the adminstrative offices..(basically everything was back there) Will now be our super new fancy lampwork and metalsmithing studio. Lot's of new equipment, and tools will be available for use.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Wow...time flies around here. I'll have more pics shortly, and everything is coming along just swimmingly!The floor is now complete throughout both units. It looks fantabulous if I may say so myself.This week, we're building new furniture for the office/kitchen, and running loads back and forth from the storage unit. It won't be an overly exciting blog week unless we can get a video of Cynthia and I attempting to build Idomo furniture.....I'm guessing Idomo furniture will be just as hellish to build as Ikea furniture is :-)

Friday, June 23, 2006

Wow! What a difference. We're all very, very excited. The painting has been completed on the new side, we've got a nice new french door to the classroom. The door still needs to be stained.Jan our wonderful contractor, has just taken out the wall in front that separated the two units.

Next week, another wall will be removed, and the new floor will be installed in our original unit.

Monday, June 12, 2006

We've got a short term timeline this week. Today/tomorrow they are plastering, putting in doors, removing shelving from the walls. Wednesday/Thursday painting, and on Friday the new floor is going in. Nice, beautiful maple laminate floors.....yay....the new space is going to sparkle!

We've got a short term timeline this week. Today/tomorrow they are plastering, putting in doors, removing shelving from the walls. Wednesday/Thursday painting, and on Friday the new floor is going in. Nice, beautiful maple laminate floors.....yay....the new space is going to sparkle!

Monday, May 08, 2006

I haven't posted in a while. The kitchen is taking much longer to complete than planned...way longer.We are holding off for a bit on the renovations. We have recently found out that our next door neighbour is moving out!! We are going to be taking over that unit. Our new store/studio is going to be a total of 2500 sq. ft! Whohoo.

Friday, March 24, 2006

We've had a crazy couple of weeks, and the electrician was pushed back a bit. He was actually supposed to come in yesterday, but we discovered that the job wasn't a simple as we originally thought (I should have expected that!)He's now coming on Monday or Tuesday...can't remember now, with additional panels and such.

Also, kitchen shopping this weekend! The classroom is getting a new kitchen/coffee area. Since we're of course attempting to do this on a modest budget, I'll be building it myself....now THAT should be interesting!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

We haven't stopped the process! We were at the Bead Oasis show this past weekend, and our attention was focused on that.Next week, I'm hoping to start building the new kitchen, and we'll probably have the electrician in next week as well.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Step 1 is now complete! This is so exciting, next steps are putting in new lighting, building a small kitchen area, getting in the electrican, and the phone guy. Then all new furniture for the classroom and an admin area. It's not huge, but is much bigger than it looks in this picture.

Here is a pic of the finished paint job, except for the floor. The floor just has a coat of primer. The floor was to be done today, but it needs about a week to completely cure.All told, this part was fairly painless.More in about a week!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Well, Dan, John and I were able to pretty much get the classroom emptied out yesterday...I can't believe how much junk accumulates over time. I'm just absolutely frightened imagining what we may find in the main store/studio.

Jerry, our painter was supposed to arrive sometime between 10 and 11am today. I usually get into the shop around 10am, so this was perfect. The phone rings at home at just after 8am this morning. It's Jerry, and of course he's at the shop! Ummmm.....yikes. I asked him to go grab a coffee, and I hurried in.Janice was in already when I got there, and Jerry was busy at work prepping the walls. When I checked in a few hours later, his crew had arrived with the scaffolding and were busy putting on the first coats. It looks amazing! That room was so dingy before compared to how clean and fresh it looks now. We choose a really fresh green, and the ceiling is now painted a colour called cotton balls. The pipes are now in a darker green.I did bring my camera with me today, however Dan had pulled out the memory card :-)The memory card is now back in the camera, and on top of my purse so I don't forget it in the morning.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

We're renovating! After 6 years of steady growth we have begun to seriously outgrow our current space. We have been waiting patiently for the adjacent unit to become available to double our space. While we're waiting, we've decided to completely redo our store and offices. Here you can follow along with the pure $%#@ of renovations. :-) We'll be posting pictures, funny stories, scary stories, and simply keeping our friends and customers up to date on our progress.

Sunday morning, Dan and I will be hauling out loads of furniture, fixtures, and other goodies for storage, along with 6 years of assorted junk to the trash.We need to completely empty out that room for the painter to start on Monday.